Prof. ABDURRAHMAN YAĞMUR TOPRAKLI

Professor Abdurrahman Yağmur TOPRAKLI graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from Middle East Technical University (METU) in 2001, earning the distinction of valedictorian of both his department and faculty (summa cum laude). Concurrently, he completed a minor in the Department of Business Administration at METU. Continuing his academic career in project management, he obtained his Master of Science degree in the "Project and Construction Management" program from Istanbul Technical University (ITU) in 2004. He completed his doctoral studies in 2011 at Gazi University, Department of Architecture, with his dissertation titled, "A Service Quality Performance Evaluation Model Proposal for Architectural Practice in Turkey." To further enrich his interdisciplinary research perspective, he conducted post-doctoral studies and obtained a specialized certificate from the Department of Computer Engineering at Middle East Technical University between 2019 and 2020.

His academic career at the Faculty of Architecture, Gazi University, began in 2003 as a Research Assistant. He was subsequently promoted to Associate Professor in 2020 and to Full Professor in 2025. During this time, he has also held various administrative positions, including Secretary of the Faculty, Member of the University Senate, Director of Vocational Schools (Ankara Vocational School, Polatlı Vocational School of Social Sciences, and Polatlı Vocational School of Technical Sciences), and Member of the YÖK (Council of Higher Education) Academic Equivalence Committee for Architecture.

Professor TOPRAKLI's primary research areas focus on building safety and performance (particularly pedestrian evacuation simulations, risk analysis, and fire safety), the design and performance of public assembly buildings, Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE), and contemporary approaches in building technologies. In his work, he effectively employs advanced technologies and interdisciplinary methodologies such as Agent-Based Modeling (ABM), Building Information Modeling (BIM), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyze human-spatial interactions and the life-cycle performance of buildings.

Throughout his academic career, Professor TOPRAKLI has served as a principal investigator and researcher on numerous national and international projects. Through his company established within Gazi Technopark and his academic consultancies, he actively translates his academic knowledge into professional practice. In this context, he has undertaken significant architectural design and R&D projects for various typologies, including sports facilities, courthouses, and public buildings, within the scope of Revolving Funds and Technopark initiatives. His prominent built works include prestigious structures such as the T.R. Presidency Indoor Sports Hall, designed to serve the highest level of state officials; the Samsun İlkadım Sports Hall with Swimming Pool, a pioneering vertical solution for limited urban sites in Turkey; the Eren Bülbül Youth Center; and modern judicial buildings that significantly contribute to the justice system, such as the Bolu Courthouse, the Gaziantep Courthouse Annex, and the Ordu Courthouse Annex, which was the first prototype for shared-use courthouses in Turkey.

Professor TOPRAKLI's scholarly work consists of numerous articles published in internationally reputable journals indexed in SCI-Expanded, SSCI, AHCI, and ESCI; book chapters published by international publishing houses; and papers presented at peer-reviewed scientific conferences. Notably, he has solidified his expertise in courthouse architecture by editing two seminal reference books in collaboration with the Council of Europe and the Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU): "Principles of Courthouse Architecture" (2013) and "Contemporary Approaches in Courthouse Design: Different Country Practices" (2014). Having received a significant number of international citations for his contributions, Professor TOPRAKLI is committed to serving the scientific community. In this capacity, he regularly serves as a reviewer for leading international journals such as BUILDINGS, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN SCIENCES, JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, BMC GERIATRICS, and FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH, as well as for national institutions like TÜBİTAK.

As an educator, Professor TOPRAKLI teaches undergraduate and graduate courses such as "Project Management," "Construction Management," and "Building Construction." He has successfully supervised numerous Ph.D. and M.Sc. theses, contributing to the development of young academics.